Image: Castle room background by Cozy Bricks. Mecha lion by Mitsuru Nikaido.
“Is it your wisdom that makes the hawk soar and spread its wings toward the south? Is it at your command that the eagle rises to the heights to make its nest?”
Job 39:26-27 NLT
Earth, Sector 1.1 2070 A.D.
Adwon’s left eyebrow was frozen lower than his right as a result of constant thinking, and yet it would be an understatement to call the young man a sage. He pressed the laminated fragment between his fingers. An ancient sketch of a bird, a piece of history – better yet – ancestry, tied this man to a distant destiny. Adwon Vinci knew in depth the complex bio-engineering that lay beneath the surface of a bird’s flight. There weren’t enough papers among all Leonardo’s famous Codexes to describe it. Stroking his blonde beard, Adwon wondered just how much envy stirred within Leonardo Da Vinci when studying the spectacular design folded within the sea bird’s wing. In fact, Adwon himself was tempted towards self-praise upon completing his own great masterpiece, a robotic duplicate of a flapping, dynamically soaring, AI-driven bird. Smerle seemed a fitting name for the grey dove. Except that Adwon had an “ethereal experience”. He hesitated to associate this adjective with his experience, since Adwon himself had never been at all religious. And yet he could not shake the spooky feeling, that an otherworldly engineer of sorts, had all the while watched admiringly over Adwon’s progress of biomimicry. Smerle had been missing something that proved to be a rare substance on Earth. Adwon had scoured through simulations upon simulations, ultimately finding the missing piece: genuine purpose. Hunting down purpose through the soul’s eye of a mechanical bird, the quest had led the maestro to a living dove whom he fondly named Pearl. Softly, Adwon spoke into Smerle’s ears, “Go, find your lovebird. Find your Pearl.” Smerle tilted his head with inquisitive eyes, then answered the call with flapping wings and a swift exit through the window.
The arched open window staring into the sunset belonged to a beast of an ancient, proud chateau. Within the castle walls, the legendary Da Vinci had walked and pondered, and so Adwon drew much inspiration by literally walking within those footsteps. Beside a glowing fireplace, two mechanical lions curled together in yin-and-yang fashion. More brute than brain, these had been experimental stepping stones towards the grey dove. The maneless female version turned her head and emitted a grating rumble. Adwon turned his attention to the door, while tapping and swiping swiftly across his computer display. No need to freely share the latest updates on Smerle with colleagues. The lazy male lion huffed in protest as the female began her prowl, now crouching at the door. The intruder never had a chance. The male lion proudly strutted, as if to take credit for his partner’s attack. The victim, a middle-aged woman, screamed in frustration rather than terror. “Adwon! Would you please remember to reprogram these things!”
“They do not need any adjustments, Miss Pelton. They need you to knock, wait, and enter calmly.” He stroked the lioness and remained calm. “Now, now, Kinna, come leave the poor woman alone.”
Standing proudly, Pelton composed herself neatly, battling wrinkles in her suit and stray brown hairs upon her head. “That would be Vice President Pelton to you. As much as I – we all – admire your genius, your distractions have robbed you of a few promotions. Outside of this grand castle lives a world of shrinking land, slices of crowded masses piled within narrow towers of precious clean air. The mission of this company is to optimize such precious space via origami robotics-”
“-Thus the name, R.O.C., Robotics Origami Corp.” He cut her off with his own shortened version of the company mission, then proceeded. “The problem with folding a robot into a neat little slab is that you leave empty space, a soulless, purposeless, vacuous space. There is no opportunity to bond with the owner. This lioness has exhibited a high learning curve, all due to a core targeted at finding purpose. Artificial intelligence is stagnant without this artificial purpose, thus AI with AP-driven core.” The lioness purred as Adwon stroked its synthetic fur. “ The laws of robotics can be better programmed as the purposes of robotics. The male lion is programmed with the laws of robotics, the female with the purpose of robotics. Her purpose is to protect life, and yet she knows my life the best. I’ve even taken the lengths of implanting memories, to the effect she believes I am a member of her family. She’s not just protecting some carbon-based object, she’s protecting a family member. And she will not harm another human, since she contains an empathy algorithm, but she will certainly immobilize any perceived threats to me. This purpose of maintaining human life is built in as a desire, a fuel. Without it, she has no purpose, and she will be a bit more like her dull male counterpart.” He motioned towards the moping male lion.
“Adwon, we’ve been through this. This purpose has unpredictable tangles that create risks for the company. A structured hierarchy of commands is the tried and true method. Besides, the origamech do have a trained ‘purpose’, to scout for information, to discover useful and life-saving facts.”
“A set of programmed commands is not the same as purpose, commands no doubt sponsored by the Mind Wizards. They prize information higher than human life, if you ask me. Purpose comes from the human soul, expressed and reflected onto devices ever since the archaic cellphone. And yet purpose is more dynamic than linear code, something that cannot be cramped into 2-dimensional space. The AP is a 3-dimensional code language, inspired by the genome structures of DNA.”
“That’s unfortunate. Until this ‘purpose’ folds up in the palm of my hand, it provides no market value to ROC, and so neither do you. If you can take this lion or lioness, provide a structured presentation, and fit it into a foldable space, then maybe I’ll let you keep this spacious solitude. Your parents’ wealth brought your prodigy to light, and yet their fondness of their precious child effectively spoiled you. A fancy dream carried above the ordinary life of cramped quarters in the real world, here in Adwon’s stately room. Would it be a shame if we were to crowd this room with a team of programmers, or would it serve to wake you to reality?”
A storm flashed across Adwon’s forehead, until his peripheral vision caught the lioness pouncing at the ground. A centipede? He tapped at his wristwatch until a Dro-mech, dragonfly robot, swarmed in on the Centi-mech. “A fine attempt at rousing my emotions, but you well know I am the master of insectoid mechs. What is this – a spyworm I’m guessing! I’m flattered that you truly want to know the inner workings of the lioness, and yet insulted that you suspect I’m hiding something from you.”
“Wake up from your dreams, Adwon! The alarm clock is screaming!” The slamming door emphasized her words.
The door echoed behind her, as she sailed down a long corridor of majestic architecture. She stopped at a wall panel for identification, a wall panel that used to be a secret passageway, but less secret to most ROC employees. From the opening of the sliding panels escaped a symphony of mechanical sounds, the massive underground operation of robotics manufacturing. After ascending the dim stairway, Reese Pelton paused to compose herself. Then she burst into the brightness as if she owned the underground cavern. A few scattered humans kept the helm of stations run by various production mech. A single shape stood unmoving, a tall dark man with square shoulders, but not the man Reese would ask out on a date. Brilliant, imposing, and yet as soulless as an origamech, Derek’s presence commanded immediate respect. His back turned to her, he palmed a sleek pedestal until a camera view filled the large monitor before him. The camera view consisted of a large floating sphere connected by streams of wires, in a room Reese did not recognize. She joined the side of her superior and dared not even utter the first sound.
“Probability is the swift child of knowledge. I have already run the most probable turn of events in my mind, no camera needed. Vice President Pelton.” He spoke as if stating conclusive facts, abruptly cutting off her response. “Your conversation with Vinci veered away from the company vision and towards a sentimental philosophy of a childish prodigy. He thinks he can put souls into mech, and yet mech are simply tools. Highly advanced tools specialized for economical and intel gathering objectives. They may entertain, but they are not soulmates. Your failed attempt at gathering Vinci’s intel is to be expected, considering his skillset. You suggest sending in a team of our best programmers, which I agree should be done immediately. That is all for now.”
“All – all that I can say, sir, is that your reputation as a Mind Wizard precedes you. Yes, sir.” As she once again composed her stature, she secretly wondered if Derek had not set up some kind of spying device in Adwon’s room.
“No, I did not,” he stated as if reading her mind. “No camera, listening device, nothing of the sort. Remember, we need to build a bridge to gain Adwon’s trust. You can start by knocking on his door next time. Consider this bridge of trust as you hand select your team of programmers.”
Reese picked up her pace and headed for the stairs.
Copyright Tim Wilburson
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